Guest blog: why colour theory is key to successful microblading

Emma Apps, international trainer for The Eyelash Design Company, explains the five factors to consider when choosing pigments for microblading and why you need to be cautious when using corrective colours.

To provide clients with a professional and successful microblading treatment, it’s vital that you understand colour theory. I know colour theory sounds like something you learned at school in art class, but trust me, it is key to microblading.

You probably already know about primary, secondary and tertiary colours; though these may not seem important in an eyebrow treatment unless you have a client who wants red, yellow or blue eyebrows. However, you can’t get beautiful microblading pigment shades without them.

There are also complementary colours to consider. Any make-up colour-correcting fan will know green helps conceal redness, orange cancels out dark blue and purple circles under the eyes, and purple corrects yellow undertones. This can also be taken into consideration with microblading. 

There’s a wide range of pigments to suit all clients along with corrective colours, such as yellow to cool and orange to warm. This means you can alter shades to provide a fully bespoke look for your client.

Remember, if you create a brow too cool for your client’s natural skin tone by adding too much yellow corrector, you risk their brows looking grey. On the other hand, creating a brow shade too warm by adding too much orange corrector could result in orange looking brows.

Five factors to consider when choosing a pigment:

1. Which pigment will suit your client’s skin tone best: a warm, cool or neutral colour?
2. How dark would the client like their brows to be?
3. Your client’s age – often, softer colours suit older clients.
4. Always remember to advise your clients to start with a softer colour as this can be built up over time if the client wants to go darker. However, it’s difficult to lighten the colour once it has been applied.
5. Remember, swatch testing is your friend. Try before you apply.

To provide the perfect microblading treatment, make sure you get to know colour theory.

Emma Apps is an international trainer for The Eyelash Design Company and HiBrow Expert.  

Check out our microblading vs semi-permanent make-up: the differences video on PBTV.